The Beauty Within
by TooMuchSarcasm
Summary: Meet Isabella Beauty, a beastly Royal with doubts. Follow the life of Isabella as she attempts to stay close with her BFFA who's destined to be the villain of her story, figures out if she's really in love with her prince-to-be, and tries to show the school that beauty isn't what it seems... and maybe discover that beasts can dare to dream.


**_When beauty isn't what it seems,_**

**_Haaa-hooo!_**

**_Sometimes the beast will dare to dream!_**

* * *

"_Princess__ you light up my __castle__ like nobody else, __t__he way that you __let down your hair __gets me overwhelmed, __b__ut when you s__it __on your throne__ it ain't hard to tell,_" Isabella Beauty sang under her breath quietly as she rummaged through her floral-print bookpack. "_You don't know you're charming_!"

The daughter of Beauty was currently packing just about everything in her room- in a week or so she'd be off to Ever After High, the famed school for the sons and daughters of famous fairytales. It made the fairyteen almost squeal just thinking about it.

There was a knock at her door, and she turned around just in time to see her older cousin walk in. "You're singing that song again?" Eugène Merchant asked with a frown. Eugène was destined to be one of Isabella's cruel sisters- it had been a fairy big disappointment to his mother when he had turned out to be a boy, though Isabella reassured him that he could still fill his role perfectly.

Isabella smirked. "How can I not? The radio hasn't stopped playing it ever since it was released."

"I just don't see why people like it," Eugène muttered, shaking his head in confusion. His expression commonly consisted of a slight frown and a cruel glint in his dark eyes, though Isabella knew him well enough to know he was a soft-hearted knight in shining armor on the inside. He just hid it very, very well.

Isabella shrugged, zipping up her bookpack. "Well, they just do." She paused for a moment, before changing the subject. "Where's Dory?"

Eugène snorted. "Stuffing her face with the pastries your father just bought from the market, what else? You know the girl always eats when she's upset."

Isabella bit her lip, looking sad for a moment. "You guys must realize that it's hard for me to leave... but I have to. You know that, I hope."

Eugène sensed that Isabella needed to be comforted or something, so he walked over and awkwardly put an arm around her. "Of course we do, _ma mie_." He said reassuringly. "But that doesn't mean we'll miss you any less."

Isabella looked up for a moment, a ghost of a smile on her face. "Never thought I'd see the day where you'd actually be acting kind to someone, Genie," She said teasingly, lightly shoving the brown-haired fairyteen on the shoulder.

Eugène immediately scowled, withdrawing his arm. "Oh, shut up," He said grumpily, his face too hot for him to bother to answer. "I was just making sure you weren't going to be all upset on the way there. That's all."

"Sure." Isabella said knowingly, studying Eugène's flushed face.

"I'm serious, you're an absolute pain when you're upset," Eugène persisted. "You get all snappish and you look like you're about to cry, and you shed all over the place _comme si un chien_ -"

"Okay, okay!" Isabella cried out, though a grin was on her face as she lightly punched her cousin. "Fine, I'll take your kindness for granted, but don't you dare mention my-"

"Abundance of bodily hair?" Eugène supplied, and Isabella nodded.

"Yes, that, now let's pretend that never entered the conversation. Okay?"

"Maybe."

It was Isabella's turn to scowl as she crossed her arms, sticking her nose in the air haughtily. "Fine. But don't think I don't know any embarrassing facts about you, Gene."

Eugène obviously took her warning as a bluff, so she continued. "A while ago mom was telling me that when you were younger you used to sneak into her wardrobe and-"

"Alright, alright!" Eugène became flustered, gesturing for his cousin to stop. "Fine, I believe you! Now, let's agree not to mention each of our little... flaws ever-after again! Okay?"

Isabella hid a grin. "_Oui_." Eugène relaxed and sat down on the edge of her bed beside her bookpack, Isabella relaxed, and for a moment everything was peaceful until Eugène heard Isabella whisper, "Don't you still do that?"

"AGH!" The next ten minutes were spent with Eugène chasing Isabella around the castle with an umbrella he found on the back of her door. Isabella's peals of laughter echoed through the corridors as she completely forgot about packing- leaving behind her family could wait for a while.

* * *

**Ma mie is a French term of endearment, literally meaning 'my female friend'.**

**Oui is French for 'yes', obviously, and 'comme si un chien' roughly means 'as if a dog'. I get the feeling that the latter is most likely wrong, since my French is extremely rusty and I had to resort to using Google Translate. *sulks in corner of shame***

**Also, 'bookpack' (backpack), 'fairy' (very), and 'fairyteen' (teen/teenager) are official terms used in Ever After High, so I decided to toss them in there. *shrugs***

**On another note, this story revolves around Isabella Beauty, who has been confirmed to be the Daughter of Beauty (and the Beast, presumably) and the cousin of Briar Beauty. Now, I haven't read any of the books (though my Storybook of Legends should be arriving any day now), so if there's any info on her in any of them feel free to notify me. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ever After High or it's characters (including Isabella Beauty and Nina Bella [Nina Bella is a trademarked character who has not made an appearance in anything in any way so far. She'll be appearing in the future, with me essentially turning her into my own character or at least what I hope she'll be]). **

**I only own my OCs: Doriane Merchant, Eugène Merchant, Beauregard "Beau" Prince, Vivian Curse, and Bellamy Venezia.**

**(Note: Bellamy Venezia and Nina Bella will only be making very small appearances in this story. Without looking anything up, can you guess what fairytale they are from, and what role they are meant for?)**

**Please read and review! Favorites and follows are totally fablelous, but reviews help me know exactly what you think of the story! :)**


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